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Honda BRV - MPV in SUV garb?

Published on:
27 Mar, 2016,
Author – IndianBlueBook

Honda - BRV

Honda will be joining the most happening segment, the SUV/ Compact SUV segment with their new offering, the Honda BRV shortly. Honda is pinning high hopes on this car, which is portrayed as a practical MPV with SUV style accents, a perfect formula for a successful SUV concoction. The car will be competing for its piece of pie in the already crowded SUV segment against the likes of Hyundai Creta, Renault Duster, Nissan Terrano and will also try to bring in the prospective customers of much bigger (in size) players like the Mahindra XUV 500 and the Tata Safari to the Honda showrooms.

Exterior Styling

The car has an unmistakable Honda design flavor written all across. However, the car has a distinctive style language which exudes practicality and style. The front end is dominated by the family chrome grill and along with flanked headlamps give that much-needed chunkiness of an SUV. The car has an ornamental skid plate at the front to clamor the SUV lineage.

Come to the side profiles and you will be reminded of the Mobilio. The doors, side windows, the front and rear quarter windows, and side panels are all straight lift from the Mobilio. Honda has also retained the body lines and creases of the Honda Mobilio. Plastic claddings are infused into the side profile which runs all the way to the rear to render SUV look to the side profile. The rear gets a uniquely shaped tail lamp cluster that runs from one end to the other. Also, Honda has shifted the registration plates to the lower half of boot lid to differentiate it from the Mobilio. Roof rails at the top reinforce the SUV silhouette of the car.

Interior

The car shares the dashboard design with the Honda City/ Jazz, however, the steering wheel is a straight lift from the Honda Amaze/ Brio. The car is expected to get a dual-tone beige interior in India. Honda is expected to bring the car with 7 Seats, which will give it an added advantage over the 5-seater SUVs like the Creta, Duster and the Terrano.

Engine

The car will be sharing the engines with the Honda City and will come with both petrol and diesel engine options.

Petrol - 4 cylinder SOHC i-VTEC 1497 CC engine (117 bhp-145 Nm)

Diesel - 4 Cylinder DOHC i-DTEC 1498 CC engine (99 bhp-200 Nm)

Price

Honda is expected to price the car competitively and we expect Honda to undercut the price of the segment leader, Hyundai Creta. The car will also face competition from the recently launched Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the Ford Ecosport though both these cars are much smaller than the BRV.